


Death of a Different Nature

by strungoutinheavenshigh



Category: Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark, Depression, Grief/Mourning, Heartbreak, Loss, M/M, Memories, Non-Explicit Sex, Oops, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, memories are italicized, spoiler for mk11, why do I only know how to write pain?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-11 04:38:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20147755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strungoutinheavenshigh/pseuds/strungoutinheavenshigh
Summary: When the news of Hanzo Hasashi's death reached Kuai Liang, his world caved in on itself. This is his journey through grief, mourning, and memories of the man without whom, he is unsure how to hold onto himself.





	1. The Hot Spring

**Author's Note:**

> damn them for not letting him have any response to this

"Hanzo Hasashi is dead."

Kuai Liang lashed out violently before his brain caught up with his body. He didn't consciously register the majority of the fight and ultimately hit the ground hard, feeling the stickiness of blood under his clothes and the dull ache of fresh bruising. None of it mattered. Those words echoed through his skull. A shrill ringing in his ears muffled the remainder of the conversation around him. Dead. The finality of it. The certainty of it. The wrongness of it. His head spun as he dreamt up a dozen ways that the information could be - had to be - a falsehood. 

There, in the Shirai Ryu fire gardens, Kuai's world collapsed around him. Breath caught in his throat. Memories came unbidden of gentle moments shared beneath the cherry blossoms. Delicate negotiations that somehow became intimate conversations over the years, signifying the death of animosity and birth of friendship. Friendship that evolved into something far deeper. Stolen kisses, hidden by the dark of night on spontaneous visits. Romantic evenings shared over tea and under the guise of diplomatic meetings. The first talk of a marriage that would never come to pass. 

A small sound escaped from his chest and went unnoticed in the turmoil of another fight that had broken out. He failed to bring himself to care. For what purpose would he care about the squabbles and misunderstandings of his teammates? Feeling his emotions threatening to burst in an uncharacteristic and public display of grief, he fled. 

He didn't know where he was going, only that he needed to be away from the others in order to reconcile the information he had received. In the wooded area beyond the gardens, a light rain began to fall, briefly freezing when it made contact with his skin. The passage of time seemed to blur under the relative darkness of the canopy; for all Kuai knew, he could have been stumbling through the brush for hours. Eventually, he found himself at a secluded hot spring. A place meant for privacy.

* * *

_"Hanzo, where are we going?"_

_"For all you speak of the virtue of patience," the older man chuckled as he wove through the woods, "You tend to lack it."_

_Kuai grumbled under his breath at having his hypocrisy noted, but stopped asking the question. Sweat left a sheen on the back of his neck and dampened his headband in the infernal heat of summer. He was not cut out for this environment, he thought for the umpteenth time as he swatted a branch away from his face. The purpose of this trek was lost on him. Frustrated, he covered his upper body with a thin layer of ice in an effort to drop his body temperature. _

_"I can practically hear you being grumpy back there," Hanzo chastised, but with no malice in his voice. "I promise you that this is worth the discomfort." He turned and smiled as he stepped into a small clearing, eyes sparkling in the dying daylight. Kuai felt his heart stutter at the sight. _

_Upon stepping into the clearing, he found that he agreed with the sentiment. Soft grass led to a large, stony pool of crystalline water, out of which rose a thin cloud of steam. "Is it natural?" he asked, making no effort to hide the awe in his voice. _

_"It is. I stumbled across it a few days ago, entirely by mistake. We've long wished for a private place and I believe that this is the best my temple has to offer." Hanzo was clearly trying to suppress the smug look on his face, but failed spectacularly. _

_"It's beautiful," Kuai breathed, no longer concerned by the heat around him. "It's perfect. You're perfect." He brought a hand to the taller man's cheek, caressing it gently, and kissed him firmly. A burst of emotion fluttered in his chest at the consideration of his partner. _

_Hanzo returned the kiss with gusto, pressing the younger man against a sturdy tree and licking past his teeth. They were both sticky and sweaty from the humidity, but neither of them paid it any mind. Shirts were tossed aside in the search for skin-to-skin contact. Kuai groaned softly as hot kisses were peppered down his neck and chest. Hanzo dropped to his knees in the grass and pulled the waistband before him to the ground. Wet heat engulfed him and Kuai forgot how to think. Climax snuck up on him, overwhelming his senses. The temperature of the air dropped considerably as his restraint was lost to the wind. _

_With trembling legs, he joined Hanzo on the grass and allowed himself to be laid back. Wet fingers worked him open while his mouth was devoured by a fervent kiss. The last of their collective clothing was shed. They'd had sex before, but that evening, as the sun set behind the mountains, they made love. _

_Buzzing with affection, they laid out on the grass until darkness fell. When the sun stole away, the temperature of the air dropped lower and they slid languidly into the spring. The contrast of hot and cold was unspeakably pleasant, raising goosebumps across exposed skin. Kuai found it beautifully poetic. _

_Submerged to his chest, Hanzo wrapped his arms around his boyfriend from behind and rested his chin on a chilled shoulder. "I love you, Kuai Liang. With my entire being."_

_Kuai felt a pang in his chest at the words never before spoken. He turned gently and pressed their foreheads together, closing his eyes. "And I love you, Hanzo Hasashi. Now and always." _

* * *

Standing in the clearing that had once been a place of safety, Kuai broke down. The dark storm growing in his chest contrasted too violently against the warmth of the memory of his first visit to this place, the ugliness of grief too out of place in the serenity of his surroundings. His knees buckled as a violent sob wracked through him. The unfairness of it was suffocating and in that moment, every breath felt pointless. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They were supposed to live on to see each other's hair go white with age, to know a life that didn't revolve around combat, to achieve peace. A scream tore from his throat, riddled with the pain of heartbreak and loss. At some point, his body wore itself out and left him unconscious on the grass. Anguish wove through his dreams and warped them into terrors. Ice covered the ground around his sleeping form and bone-chilling cold settled in the air. The once soft grass in the immediate area suffocated with him, dying an equally slow and painful death.


	2. To Feel

Days seemed to blur together. Kuai Liang threw himself into battle with a void in his chest, fueled by a dark need for vengeance. He knew that he should, and usually would, care more for the lives that he cut short, but couldn't bring himself to give them a second thought. His fighting style grew more calculated, exploitative of weakness and characterized by fine-tuned efficiency. No mercy was owed to these animals that wrought chaos in their wakes. He had no clan and no family to live or die for any longer, rendering his objective to laying waste to those who stole them from him, no matter the cost to himself. There was a debt to be paid and he refused to rest until it was settled. 

Sparring and training became little more than outlets for frustration, miniature outbursts of raw emotion. His teammates took notice, but most chose to tread lightly on the topic. Where once he had people who trusted his judgment and found comfort in his demeanor, he now had ones who looked away with unease and avoided him like a plague. Part of him thought this to be for the best. The untimely death of an isolated individual would have less impact on those around them.

A scarce few would occasionally pull him aside and express something akin to concern.

"I'm here if you need to talk," Sonya assured him.

"There are still things to fight for among all of the suffered losses," Raiden unhelpfully informed him.

"You shouldn't bottle everything up like this or you'll explode," Cassandra explained.

"Keep on like this and you'll find yourself buried as well."

"You're pushing everyone away."

"We're all hurting out here."

These were easily brushed off by some weak explanation of lack of sleep or another base need left unmet. Sorry, I didn't rest well. Sorry, I'm just having a bad day, nothing to worry about. For the most part, they didn't get under his skin. He knew they meant well. 

"I know how you feel," Jacqueline told him once. "We've all lost people, Grandmaster. There are ways to cope and we can help you. You're not alone in this."

How was he to explain that no, she does not know how he feels and likely never will? Everyone suffers loss, but all of different magnitudes. In his entire life, he had met one man who understood the pain of losing an entire clan and every family member to a force beyond his control, and now he was gone too.

* * *

_Kuai woke with a start, bolting upright in bed with a flurry of ice skating up his arms. The bedroom was frigid. While consciously pulling his power back under control, he tried to bring himself back to reality. The nightmares weren't always the same, but they were similar. He would be stuck in the temple, listening to Sektor deliver the news of Bi-Han's death and forced to repress any emotional response or be punished by his clan. In the same dream, he would find himself face-to-face with Noob Saibot and being reminded that 'we share blood, but we are not brothers' before striking down the last of his family. Other times, it would be the explosion of the Cyber Lin Kuei facility that left him the last surviving member of his clan. Sometimes, it would be his own cyberization that left him a slave to Shao Kahn. Other still would be of his time under the control of Quan-Chi. They recycled themes of loss of kin and loss of self, neither of which he handled well._

_A warm hand gripped his shoulder and a soft kiss was placed between his shoulder blades, easing some of the tension there. "Which one was it?" Hanzo asked gently, familiar with his unstable sleep patterns._

_Kuai waited until he was sure that his voice wouldn't break, but couldn't suppress the slight tremble under his words. "The facility. It does not get easier, coming to terms with the fact that no others remain. I don't-" he paused, scrubbing a hand across his face and pressing the heel of a palm against his eye. "I don't know how I'm going to go back home when all of this is finished." The confession came out just above a whisper._

_Hanzo ran dexterous fingers through his hair, slowly calming his shattered nerves. "It may not ever get easier, but it grows more distant with time. The pain will continue but there are things we can do to soothe its sting. You have a unique opportunity, a chance to rebuild, to create a force that operates under your values and beliefs. It is no betrayal to your clan to start over. The hardest part is believing in your ability to do so. I believe in you." Kuai leaned back against his chest and let his eyes fall closed, a single tear escaping down his cheek. "You are the strongest person I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I will be at your side every step of the way, as you were at mine."_

_The nightmares were frequent, as they always had been, but Kuai found them easier to bear in the company of someone who could genuinely understand what he was going through. Someone who believed in him. "I try so hard not to let this rage consume me. It takes so much effort in battle not to tear out the spines of every accomplice to the plot against my clan. It takes so much effort to show mercy to those who scarcely deserve their lives."_

_"But if nothing else, you are a force driven by principle," Hanzo said with confidence. "It would be beneficial to find a constructive outlet for your anger, to keep it from consuming you as it did me. My downfall was my blind drive for vengeance. Quan-Chi only fanned a flame that already existed. Isolation and mindless destruction are against your nature, but you cannot be blamed for feeling these things. That much is natural in times of grief. You are allowed to feel."_

_The statement hung in the air, a claim that directly contradicted the only teachings he had ever known. Even Bi-Han had flagrantly rejected displays of emotion with cold words and harsh reminders that the Lin Kuei do not feel, rather they are driven by logic and impassivity. For all of his many faults, he had shown the most leniency on the subject. He used words where the others preferred physical punishment. The violent punishments of the Grandmaster were things Kuai did not often speak of, but he was unsure whether that was out of lingering loyalty or a belief that it had been deserved. _

_"Grief, mourning, hurt, anger, none of these were permitted during my upbringing. We were not taught how to deal with them, only how to suppress them. I find myself at a distinct disadvantage when they surface. There is always a lingering fear of the repercussions for feeling instead of thinking," his voice trailed off. Hanzo looked concerned, squeezing his shoulder firmly. The Shirai Ryu had formed out of rebellion against the belief that emotion signified weakness. They had risen up and rallied against the demand that the Lin Kuei exist without attachments to individuals while in full service of the clan's purpose. Kuai knew that until he disclosed the extent of these teachings, and the punishments leveled for acting out of line, Hanzo would remain blissfully ignorant. Most outsiders who learned the details responded with pity, but he knew not to expect that from his partner. It was simply a conversation for another time._

_Hanzo sighed into the heavy silence and laid back on their bed, pulling the younger man to his chest. Kuai shifted in the embrace around his shoulders and forced himself to relax. Warmth radiated from Hanzo's bare chest, melting the cold he had felt in his own. A gentle hand rubbed circles on his back and gradually, the tension left his body, leaving him with bone-deep exhaustion._

_"You need not be afraid of your emotions, Kuai," Hanzo spoke softly into his hair, pressing a kiss into the short chop. "They show that you're human, that you're alive, and that you care. There is no weakness in these things." _

_Kuai hummed in response, unsure how to respond to that but filing the assurance away for later. He supposed that he must care to a large extent, given his current position and the comfort that the other man brought him by simply existing. Nuzzling Hanzo's chest, he let his eyes fall closed. Within moments, the pair had fallen into peaceful slumber that was uninterrupted by dreams of any sort._

* * *

Jacqueline Briggs searched his face for a sign of acceptance and looked disgruntled when she didn't find it. "While I appreciate the concern, Ms. Briggs," he intoned with sarcasm dripping from his words, "I insist that it is misplaced. All I want is for this war to end, and training is imperative to defeat our enemy. Death is part of life. It would be unwise to dwell on such things."

He turned away from her and made to leave. "Master Hasashi wouldn't have wanted you to stoop this low," she declared to his back, not noticing the abrupt tension that came to his shoulders in her moment of frustration. "When you risk injuring our troops, you jeopardize our mission. You say that winning is what you want but you aren't acting like it. You can't help us if you're dead from an outburst on the field. You can't help us if you make yourself a casualty by being careless!"

Kuai's limbs felt heavy. A pang shot through his chest. "What do you know of casualties, child?" he growled. "What, pray tell, do you know of Master Hasashi's wishes? What do you understand, as your friends and family live and breathe alongside you?" He turned back toward the girl and saw the shame in her eyes, even as she postured herself defensively. A shock of cold ran through his veins and mist swirled around his hands. Before she could blink, he had her pinned to the metal wall of the hallway with a forearm to her neck. No pressure was applied, but the threat was palpable in the air. "You know nothing. Life is fleeting, stolen in mere moments, and death is indiscriminate. Until you have suffered the loss of every person you ever held dear, do not presume to know how I feel."

Jacqueline's eyes widened, but she jerked a nod. Kuai took a step back, reeling the ice on his arms into himself to calm his nerves. People filtered through the corridor with varying levels of alarm.

"What's going on here?" Sonya demanded, looking between the two of them.

Jacqueline cleared her throat. "Nothing, Commander Blade. What's happening?"

"It started snowing. In August."

Kuai barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the apparent cause of this commotion. "Nothing of concern is going on here. Ms. Briggs and I were simply having a conversation. If I may?" He turned without waiting for the affirmative and went to his room, leaving the confused Special Forces to gawk at the icy footprints he left behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boi is hot and cold these days.  
let me know what you think! kudos are appreciated ❤


	3. Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> featuring young Kuai Liang being small and angry. language, mentions of sex and alcohol, because Kuai and Tomas were young and rebellious. they got around and teased each other and you can't convince me otherwise. don't @ me.  
also a description of an assassination

There was a chance that an altercation with the Briggs girl had not been wise. The metal fist around his throat seemed to indicated as much.

"I don't care what's crawled up your ass, Liang. If you ever put a hand on my daughter again, I'll cut it off," Jax snarled, pushing him harder into the wall to punctuate his point. Kuai brought his fists down on mechanical arms in an effort to break their hold, but there were no bones to splinter. Black spots swam across his vision as he dug his heels into the smooth surface of the wall, seeking traction, seeking anything to alleviate the pressure around his neck. Mere seconds before the Lin Kuei lost consciousness, Jax dropped him from where he had been suspended. 

Kuai crumpled to his knees and gasped hungrily for air. His neck would be bruised, but it was no matter. "I apologize, Jackson, and hope you know that I would not hurt her," he heard his voice rasp through desperate breaths.

"Prove it then, man!" Jax threw his arms up in exasperation. "We're trying to help you, but we can't if you lash out like that. I mean, shit, half the SF is scared to say two words to you! What's the point of pushing us away?"

Kuai wondered the same, at times. He was at war with himself; torn between a need for support and fear of further loss. The latter tended to prove a stronger motivation. "The purpose," he grunted, pushing himself to his feet to look the other man in the eye, "Is preservation. To bring you all down in the case of my own death would be counterproductive." Self-preservation more than anything. A coping mechanism.

"Killing yourself would be counterproductive," Jax shot back. Truth rang in his words. "Losing a man is always a set-back, it doesn't matter how much of an asshole they are."

"Death in combat is hardly suicide."

"Death caused by recklessness might as well be."

Kuai glared despite the accuracy of the statement. "I am not reckless in combat, to suggest as much is an offense. Your message is received, Major Briggs." He didn't care to hear the response, any further discussion would only escalate and he didn't have the patience for escalation at the moment. Jax's eyes bore holes in the back of his head as he walked away.

The courtyard was abandoned in the early hours of morning. He made himself comfortable at the edge of a steep cliff that marked the end of the training grounds. Sitting with his feet dangling hundreds of feet from the river below, he tried to meditate. It had been weeks since his mind cleared enough to do so and it was putting him on edge. The breeze was cool on his face and the air smelled faintly of the last night's rain. Closing his eyes, he turned his focus inward. The inside of his head could only be described as a storm. Sorrow and guilt were deeply entangled with rage and frustration, all of it wrapped in a tight bundle surrounded by icy numbness. He tried to melt his own mental block, hyperaware that leaving it alone would only exacerbate his problems.

The first thing met was grief so potent that it momentarily blindsided him, shaking his focus. Hanzo's face was a crystal-clear image in his mind. It ached to allow himself to observe it. In his mind's eye, the man was vibrant and alive. As hard as he tried to preserve the smile on his face, the light in his eyes, the picture was warped by longstanding anguish. The life in his eyes flickered out and the color drained from his skin. Life became death, a cruel reminder that Kuai hadn't been there. Should have been there. Why hadn't he been there?"

"Kuai Liang!" a voice all but shouted in his ear, shattering the illusion. Sonya. These damned people had no concept of how to recognize meditation, nor how to approach one engaged in the practice. Grinding his teeth, he pulled himself back into his body and let the world filter through his senses. Opening his eyes revealed that the sun had risen, spreading its heat through the humid air. He didn't look at the woman squatting beside him, instead looking out across the canyon in search of something that didn't exist. Though his pride would never allow him to admit it, the interruption had been welcome. He wasn't yet prepared to face his mind head-on.

"Are you listening to me, Liang?" Sonya asked expectantly. Had she been speaking?

Kuai looked her over, not hiding his disinterest in her presence. "I am, now. Did you need something?"

She heaved a sigh and sat in the red dirt, crossing her legs as if she meant to stay there. "I just talked to Jax." He raised a brow at the insinuation before returning his gaze to the horizon. "He's pretty pissed, but he's also concerned. A lot of us are."

"There is no need-" he began, feeling somewhat like a broken record, before she cut him off.

"Nope. There's obviously a need. You've even got Raiden worried, he's spouting off about bad energy or something."

"If Lord Raiden would like to talk to me instead of passing the message through someone else-"

"Liang, I swear to the Elder Gods, let me talk." Kuai forced himself not to glare and bit his tongue. "The Special Forces have, well, we have people here who are better equipped to deal with some things than we are." She spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. "We take care of our own and contract or not, we care about you in a personal capacity. So I'm assigning you an, err, case-worker."

"I am not in need of therapy," Kuai stated simply, desperately wishing he could disappear. Tomas had been blessed in that capacity.

Sonya was clearly wishing the conversation over as well, fidgeting with a rock but firm in her words. "If you don't go, the higher-ups are going to threaten to end your contract. I don't know if they'd actually go through with it, but Raiden mentioned a few means of forcing the issue."

Kuai turned back to her at that. "Is that a threat, Commander?"

"Not from me, don't shoot the messenger. You're starting this afternoon."

"This afternoon?!" Kuai coughed at the strain that raising his voice had put on his throat, idly rubbing the handprint-shaped bruise. He brought his volume back down. "I have to insist that this is unnecessary, particularly with this urgency. If I've failed to perform up to standard, I would be happy to speak with someone about improving, but I don't take lightly to the prospect of others poking around inside my head."

Sonya sighed wearily, "You've been outstanding in the field, damn near unparalleled recently. I told them you wouldn't like it but you know how it is. Boss' word goes. The appointment's at noon and I recommend going without a fuss. I did my part now do yours." With that, she untangled her legs and walked away.

* * *

_Kuai truly hadn't intended to talk back to the Grandmaster. _

_He and Tomas had been sent on a week-long mission, which was nothing out of the ordinary for their ranks within the clan. Their target was Jianguo Wang, a Chinese man who was allegedly involved in treason. The identity of the client was above their paygrade. It was a run of the mill deployment, they had only been given a full week to build tolerance for the world outside the temple. They had found their target within two days and gotten all the necessary information on him by the third. Home address, workplace, travel patterns, and other things of that nature. The hit would be made on day four, they would lay low on day five, and return to the temple on day six._

_Kuai had his head buried in schematics while Tomas triple checked his frankly excessive stockpile of weapons. They wouldn't encounter any resistance on a civilian hit, but he had insisted on carrying enough steel to bring down a full brigade. He figured there was a chance that he would take similar precautions if he hadn't yet mastered his cryomancy._

_"Earth to Tundra," Tomas raised his voice and smacked the back of his head, getting an indignant huff from his partner. "I can never tell if you're ignoring me on purpose or if you truly get so absorbed in those maps and notes that you can't hear me."_

_"Feel free to assume the former," Kuai scoffed. "On the gods, I don't think I can look at this anymore. There was no sense in sending us out for a full week when this could've been done in a day." He hadn't been impressed by the assignment, despite knowing the purpose behind it. There was a part of him that ached and screamed against their assassination plots but he had gotten better at suppressing it, however much that fact alone concerned him. "I can't get my head around why we were hired to do this, the guy doesn't seem like much of a threat. This could have been easily handled by the police."_

_Tomas shrugged, his posture oozing indifference. "We aren't here to question the client, much less the Grandmaster. It still seems ridiculous to drag it out like this. For all he harps on the value of training, we sure are missing a lot of it."_

_"It's implied that we'll practice while we're gone," he reminded his friend and stretched lazily. "It's no wonder they won't send us alone if one of us keeps coming back from every assignment with any freedom nursing a hangover."_

_"Hey now," Tomas exclaimed. "That's not just me! You're the one that killed his kidneys and gets hungover like a man twice his age. I'm just catching up." He chucked a blade across the room, which Kuai caught by the handle without looking up. "He was so pissed last time though, neither of us made it to the tourney on time." They both grimaced at the memory. It had been kitchen duty for two weeks in punishment, on top of mandatory training with Sektor._

_"We aren't kids anymore, the punishments for that won't get any lighter." To say that they had pushed the limits of their grace period was an understatement. After turning eighteen, most students were granted a weekend off to do their worst. Anything beyond that time frame had the potential to be severely punished, and direct evidence of intoxication while on missions was not accepted. Nearly two years later, it was sheer luck that they had been able to pass off their exhaustion as residual from long hours. That wouldn't be the case with this mission. "There's a chance that they're testing us with this; a boring, easy mission for this long isn't exactly standard."_

_"Whatever. I have to assume that you get preferential treatment because of Bi-Han, otherwise you're just too good at this. Do you ever get in any real punishment for the shit you pull? How the hell did you get someone into your room last week? Who was it?"_

_Kuai groaned loudly and swung his chair around to face Tomas. "First of all, don't be a damn hypocrite. I deal with your racket through the wall without interrogating you. Second of all, the noise wasn't my fault! Some people don't have any discipline, it's ridiculous."_

_Tomas laughed despite the flush rising up his neck. "Again, I'm making up for lost time! We finally have girls around, what am I supposed to do? And they aren't usually that loud anyway. You want your escapades to be all secretive but you lose that when they wake me up in the middle of night."_

_"Fine, asshole, it was Zhang. I made it abundantly clear that it wouldn't happen again since he couldn't keep his trap shut." Kuai slumped in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to relive that embarrassment._

_"Zhang?! Fuck, dude, that was bold. Didn't he kick your ass sparring that day?"_

_"Shut up, Tomas."_

_"Just saying," Tomas raised his hands and shook his head. "If you're into that then more power to you."_

_"Shut up, Tomas." _

_"We all get desperate sometimes, all's fair after all."_

_"Shut. Up. Tomas." Ice danced across his knuckles. "I'd hate to damage the face that gets you so much attention, since it definitely isn't your skill that the new girls are drawn to."_

_Tomas chuckled but conveniently ceded. "Alright, alright. I miss the days when I could still easily throttle you in a fight. Ladies do love a shiner though." He looked wistful, imagining the opportunities. "Hey, maybe we actually should spar more often."_

_Kuai rolled his eyes and turned back to his notes. "Whatever gets your rocks off, bud. We should probably head out soon, Mr. Wang should be getting home at 2200 hours."_

_"Back to business," Tomas sighed, which Kuai figured warranted no response. Tomas gathered his various blades and Kuai pulled a mask over his face. He was grateful for the privacy it granted to the heat that had crossed his face and inwardly cursed his friend's lack of tact. _

_They carefully crossed rooftops under the blanket of darkness with Kuai providing bridges across any gap they couldn't jump, an ability he was eternally thankful for. Jianguo Wang lived on the fifth floor of a beat-down apartment complex that sat a few blocks from their motel. Once they reached its neighboring building, Kuai dropped into a squat at the ledge and pulled a scope from his pocket. His breath came through his mask in crystallized fragments, vaporizing in the humid air, and sweat rolled down his neck. He was none too fond of the summer months. At only a glance, it was clear that that Mr. Wang had arrived home early. He sat at a small dining table with a woman and two children. _

_"He's home," Kuai ground through his teeth, pushing down the unease that rose in his chest at the sight of a family at peace. _

_Tomas swore up and down in the creative way that only he could manage and swiped the scope. "Did we get the time wrong? What the fuck, he was consistent all week long! Do you think he caught on? Or something tipped him off?"_

_"No, we haven't made contact with anyone. Gods damn it all," he tugged at his hair in frustration. "I'm so tired of this, man. I'm sick of pulling families apart like this."_

_Tomas whirled on him and grabbed him by the jaw. He tried to pull away but the grip on his mask was tight and excessive movement could give away their position, so he settled for glaring. "You can't get caught talking like that, you know that as well as I do. This is the job and the Grandmaster will have your skin if he thinks you're questioning orders. We have to do this, so buck up, shut up, and help me figure out a plan." _

_Kuai grumbled under his breath and wrenched his head away, their position be damned. No one was paying any attention to rooftops on a Thursday night, anyway. "We should try to wait and see if he comes onto the terrace. Otherwise, our best bet is after he goes to sleep."_

_They waited another hour on the roof, baking in the heat that persisted past sundown. Kuai felt his mood deteriorating with every passing minute, between the combined apprehension of breaking and entering into a family's home and the sweat that soaked through his clothes. He really hated the summer and sometimes, he genuinely hated his job. The Wang family ate their dinner and said a prayer before the children were sent to bed. A boy and a girl. They couldn't have been older than five years. Jianguo Wang and his wife cleaned the kitchen before going to bed themselves, never setting foot outside. Kuai damned the entire situation._

_"We'll have to break in," Tomas stated. "I can get us in without a problem but we can't be loud or they'll all wake up. We can't jostle him much or his wife will wake up. It needs to be quick and it needs to be quiet."_

_"Yeah, no shit. Ideally, we would do this tomorrow. We probably should do it tomorrow. There are too many unexpected variables here."_

_Tomas shook his head. "We'll need at least a day to lay low, maybe a day and a half. That's standard when there's a family to account for. If we do it tomorrow, we encroach on the time-frame and risk getting back late. We planned it this way for a reason, we have a buffer in case the police are an issue so there's extra time for it to blow over."_

_Kuai knew all of that, he had planned it after all, but it still felt wrong. "Fine, fuck it, whatever. Get us in and be quiet about it."_

_"I always am," Tomas assured him, but there was a joke behind the words that Kuai didn't want to consider. 'Always' was an overstatement._

_They breached the gap between the buildings and dropped onto the terrace. One moment, Tomas was at his side, and the next, he had disappeared in a puff of smoke. Seconds later, the door opened from the inside._

_"It was unlocked," Tomas breathed incredulously. Kuai shook his head and held a finger to his mask, choosing not to dwell on the overly trusting nature of civilians._

_They chose their steps carefully on hardwood floors, expertly masking the sound of boots falling. There were three doors in the lone hallway of the apartment, one to the children's room, one to a bathroom, and one to the parents' bedroom. All of the lights were off. Tomas gripped the handle of the desired door carefully and once Kuai nodded, opened it slowly. Jianguo Wang was laying a small distance from his wife, both slept peacefully. Kuai positioned himself, ready to grab flailing limbs when the time came. Tomas met his eyes and nodded once before pushing smoke into the man's lungs and covering his mouth and nose with a gloved hand. It took all of ten seconds for Wang's eyes to snap open and panic to seize his body. Kuai grabbed an arm before it could reach around and wake the sleeping woman less than a foot away. With a silent apology, he coated their target in a layer of ice that was just thick enough to hold him still and prevent him from breathing. Tomas snatched his hand away as the ice covered his face, freezing the look his look of terror in place. _

_T__wo more minutes. _ _A whimper behind them broke the silence. Kuai kept a hand on the chest of their target, but his gaze snapped toward the source of the noise. The little boy stood in the doorway, his face gone pale and a look on his face that promised a scream. Tomas moved like a ghost, snatching the boy up with a hand over his mouth and carrying him out of the room._

_One more minute. Kuai glanced at the woman and was relieved to see that she hadn't stirred. One minute and they would be gone. Mrs. Wang would sleep through the night and wake to find her husband dead in their bed. The children would wake to their mother's anguish. Anything the boy had seen would be dismissed as a nightmare, his father couldn't have been frozen to death in this heat, after all. _ _There were no more sounds from the hallway._

_Thirty seconds._

_Ten._

_Five._

_Kuai retracted his ice from the man beneath him, pulling it under his clothes and across his skin, leaving no trace behind. He felt for a pulse and found none. Mission complete. In six hours, morning would arrive and tragedy would be discovered. In 36 hours, they would leave the city._

_He retreated from the bedroom and closed the door behind him without a sound. Tomas stood in the living room with a sleeping child in his arms and a frantic look on his face. Kuai swore, took the boy, careful not to wake him, and returned him to his bed. He was standing to leave when a small, sleep addled voice spoke._

_"Are you the devil? I thought the devil used fire powers."_

_Kuai turned back to the boy, unsure why he felt the urge to do so. "I'm no one, a ghost in a dream. Go back to sleep and I'll disappear."_

_"You can't be the devil because Daddy isn't bad," he said with bleary conviction. "I go to sleep so you go away. The bad guys can't win if they disappear."_

_"Send me away now," Kuai whispered as the boy closed his eyes, overwhelmed by the exhaustion of childhood._

_Their exit was easy, back the way they came without bothering to lock the terrace door behind them. Leave no trace. The rooftop journey back to the motel passed in silence._

_Once Kuai closed the door behind them, Tomas collapsed onto his bed. "Motherfuck! I was so sure that kid was going to raise hell. He fell asleep, like, as soon as I took him out of the room."_

_"Good," Kuai grumbled as he yanked off his mask. "Why do they always have to have families? Why can't these people just live alone and travel like they're supposed to and die without a fuss?"_

_"Because our lives suck and the universe hates us personally."_

_One would think. "He asked me if I was the devil then told me I can't be because 'Daddy isn't bad'."_

_Tomas sat up with a wild look in his eye. "Do you think he'll remember?"_

_"I doubt it, pretty sure thought he was dreaming."_

_"I sure as shit hope so. Leave no witnesses is one thing but I draw the line at offing kids."_

_Kuai hummed and idly wondered how that line had moved so low that killing kids would even be a consideration. He had long since accepted that a clan of hired assassins would have no moral compass, but that didn't ease the difficulty of the job and it did nothing to silence the voice in the back of his head that insisted that this was irreparably wrong. They laid low the next day, pointedly ignoring the news and the blare of sirens down the street. Kuai caved that evening in the bar where they got their dinner, ordering a round of shots and downing Tomas' when he declined. Guilt blurred into apathetic indifference, which was immensely easier to handle._

_He woke up with a hangover that persisted through their flight and the hike to the temple. His head and heart pounded as one when they reported to the Grandmaster. This is the home stretch, he reminded himself. They left the boy's waking out of the report in an unspoken agreement, neither of them certain that they wouldn't be reprimanded for not killing him as well._

_"I am glad to hear that circumstances did not stall your completion of the mission," the Grandmaster declared. "I had worried that sentimental drivel about family would create an upset, but applaud your ability to see clearly."_

_"Thank you, Grandmaster," Tomas grumbled. Kuai ground his teeth._

_"You are both aware that connections to others will only cloud the mind. Emotions are the death of efficiency. Your own partnership is only acceptable in the context of a working unit, I need not remind you that friendship is not the way of the Lin Kuei."_

_"We know, Grandmaster," Tomas said._

_"Do not speak on the behalf of others, Vrbada."_

_Kuai looked up from his boot and unclenched his jaw. "I am aware of the clan's stance on personal bonds, Grandmaster."_

_The man narrowed his eyes. "As a member of this clan, you are expected not only to follow this practice, but to internalize its purpose. You do understand its purpose, correct?"_

_Don't talk back._

_"Personal attachments make us weak in the face of the clan's objectives. Caring for others distracts from our mercenary missions, on which we are to operate as machines with no regard for human life," Kuai spat and felt Tomas tense next to him. "We are to discard our own humanity for the sake of discarding the lives of our targets. Loyalty must lie unequivocally with the clan as a whole rather than to its members, with the exception, of course, of the Grandmaster. All of this because Lin Kuei tradition states that it must be so."_

_Oops._

_The Grandmaster raised a brow, clearly unimpressed. "You speak truth, Kuai Liang, but do so as if these truths are beneath you. Rebellion of thought is as high an offense in the Lin Kuei as rebellion of behavior." He gestured for his son to step forward. "You will learn, as your brother did, to accept this. Sektor, take him downstairs. We'll give him three days."_

_Kuai's stomach turned and he saw Tomas' jaw drop out the corner of his eye. Preferential treatment his ass. Punishment in the clan came in tiers, menial labor was most common and sat somewhere near the bottom. To his knowledge, this was the only level that Tomas' had ever faced. Going downstairs meant significantly more drastic measures were to be taken. Kuai had been down close to a dozen times, but refrained from telling his friend as much. Sektor grabbed him by the bicep and steered him out of the room. Kuai shot an apologetic glance over his shoulder and saw that Tomas was still standing there with glassy eyes. _

_"One would think that you'd learn," Sektor sneered. "How many times do I have to drop you in the box before it sticks?"_

_"Sorry to burden you with my insolence," Kuai bit back, jerking his arm free but still walking at his side. There was no avoiding this once the order had been issued. Three days was a long time, though._

_"I don't enjoy this, Liang. You always come out more hot-headed than when you went in, no pun intended. Watching the tone of your voice would do you a world of good."_

_Kuai didn't dignify that with a response. Winding stone hallways led to a number of chambers, most of which he had visited at least once. The favorite for cryomancers was the hot box, conveniently temperature controlled and just large enough to practice the expected forms for daily evaluation. His last stays had only lasted a day at a time._

_When they reached the door, Bi-Han was standing at its entrance with his arms crossed. This only happened when Kuai was going to be baited into speaking out of line and his brother could be sent in advance to add insult to injury. Sektor bowed his head slightly and shoved Kuai forward before leaving in no small hurry._

_"Good to see you, brother," Kuai sneered. "Though the circumstances aren't exactly ideal."_

_Bi-Han just scowled. "You are well aware of what the Grandmaster wants to hear from you by now, so there's little left for me to say to you. Get your head out of your ass and cooperate." With that, he grabbed Kuai by the back of the neck of shoved him through the doorway. "Keep your mouth shut when the guards come by this time, they aren't impressed with you adding onto their hours."_

_The door slammed shut and within moments, the temperature began to rise. Kuai sighed and sat in the middle of the room, crossing his legs and waiting. It was a waste of energy to try to cool the room when he knew that by design, it would grow hot enough to render his cryomancy inert. His baseline internal temperature was low enough that he wouldn't keel over when they cranked the heat to 60°C, but that level of dry heat pushed him to the standard human body temperature. It was enough for hallucinations and extreme dehydration. It took an hour to hit 30°, two to get all the way to 60. The penalty for failing to go through his forms with the expected level of perfection would be thirty-minute intervals where it held at 80° before dipping back down, until he either passed out or forced his way through the forms. He usually passed out first. One small meal would be provided in the morning and if he was lucky, he wouldn't throw it back up by midday. Three fucking days._

* * *

"Kuai Liang," Raiden said by means of greeting when he barged into his bedroom.

"Lord Raiden," Kuai returned from a tense stance in the middle of the room. He had hoped that practicing his taolu would bring him some focus.

"Sonya Blade says that she informed you of the decision to assign you an individual with whom you may speak on the things that trouble you."

He sighed and stood straight before the demigod. "She did, and I informed her in return that while appreciated, the service would not be necessary."

Raiden narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "It is not up for discussion. I have found that humans fare poorly when given a choice in matters of their own well-being."

"Cassandra may have some allegories to the contrary. One cannot be helped before they are ready to receive it." Kuai stepped back as Raiden stepped toward him, evaluating an exit strategy and feeling like a cornered teenager. "I am no child and I am aware of my mental limits."

"If this were the case, the outburst with Jacqueline Briggs would not have occurred," Raiden declared. "I understand that the Lin Kuei hold a preference for individual introspection in the form of meditation, but at times, the assistance of an unbiased third party is beneficial. Additionally, infighting among our ranks warrants intervention."

The altercation with Ms. Briggs had undoubtedly not been wise. "Jacqueline confronted me at an inopportune moment. There will be no further incidents." He often wondered if he would ever live a life away from the strict control of superiors. This type of repercussion was admittedly preferable to the punishments of the Lin Kuei, though they were still unappreciated.

"There should not be inopportune moments that are created by emotional upset. This therapeutic service has been of benefit to several members of the team and I have no doubt that you will come to agree." Raiden abruptly lunged forward and grabbed him arm. For a few seconds, all he could feel was heat and shocking electricity that threatened to tear his body into pieces. All air was punched from his lungs. It felt as if he was being simultaneously crushed and pulled apart. When he was sure that he could stand it no longer, it ended in a flash of blue lightning.

The distinct smell of burning hair lingered in his nose as he tried to process his surroundings. Johnny Cage approached and.. ruffled his hair? "Sorry, Ice Cube, he forgets that the rest of us catch fire."

Oh.

"Oh," his voice sounded distant, but the shock of teleportation was fading. He was in a largely nondescript room, several chairs were gathered in a circle, a few of which were occupied. Johnny took a seat between his daughter and Jackson Briggs. Opposite the Special Forces members sat the Shaolin monks Liu Kang and Kung Lao, whom he had somehow forgotten were staying at the base temporarily. There was also a man who he had never seen before.

"How kind of you to join us, Kuai Liang," the man greeted. "I'm Dr. Myers. Welcome to group."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm putting my mans in therapy because he is Causing Problems and Raiden is really just a highly dysfunction parent. it won't be super central to plot or anything, just moving shit along. don't @ me pt 2  
thoughts/comments/concerns/etc. are welcome and kudos are appreciated!


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